If I knew then what I know now …

By Martha O’Regan
The more I learn about the proper use of the mind in bringing health, happiness, and success, the more I wish for a “do over.” As it turns out, we can have what we wish for … it is called imagination. The brain doesn’t know the difference between what we perceive and what is imagined — they both create neural pathways that affect our health, behaviors, relationships and even our surroundings. We can go back to an experience from decades ago that at the time we perceived as “bad” and imagine it again with a perception of “good” and it will actually create a new network in the brain, completely changing our physiology. We don’t change the facts, only the energy in which it is stored.  How cool is that?  Allow me to explain.
First, remember that everything is energy including every thought, feeling, word and deed. Simply put, positive energy is expansive and alive with frequency, while negative energy is contractive and sluggish in frequency.  Every experience is “neutral” until you decide which energy to charge it with, positive or negative, and that perception immediately translates into your physical body as either one of survival (contractive) or ease (expansive).
Next, we have our mental hard drive (aka the brain) where every experience we have ever had is stored, including everything we have ever seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled. This includes everything coming into our peripheral awareness from in utero to date. So, many stored memories are actually due to other people who were in our lives during our development years. Each experience gets placed in a file in that hard drive based on the perspective that we deemed appropriate for it in that moment.  When we were younger, these experiences were placed with the energy of the “big people” who were guiding us.  These files set up a “neural pathway or network” that can be instantly retrieved for future use, whether it be for learning, becoming proficient in a hobby or sport, determining the best course of action in a project, or just basic survival.  These pathways also have an energy attached to it that will emit into our physical body or surroundings. Those experiences that we perceived as negative with either great intensity or long duration can set up a message into the body that over time can become a symptom or a behavior that we “wish we didn’t have.”  So, an experience that created immense fear for a short time can get us just as “stuck’’ in the mental hard drive as long-term worry.  Both can set up a mental loop that can lead to such things as tight muscles, high blood pressure, self-sabotage or procrastination.
Think about an experience that you wish had never happened and tune into how it feels in the body.  Notice how fast you were able to retrieve that stored memory? Think about the gazillion stored memories that we judged as “negative” in our lifetime that are controlling our physiology 24/7/365! Eewwwhhhh … Not interested in that.
So, knowing what we know now about the brain, we can go back to an experience and without changing the facts, see the lesson or look at it again through the lens of forgiveness, gratitude, love, peace or joy, creating a brand new neural pathway in the brain, allowing for more appropriate physiology. Aahhhh … now that feels better already. Live Well … Have Fun.